Rambles about the wonderful world of wrestling.
I’m plunging ahead with these J-Cup reviews in the hope that someone still cares about this rather lost tournament. The Quarter Final took place in San Francisco and was filmed with a single static camera which is great for a show that features a shitload of dives… Oh well, shouldn’t complain.
Continue reading “NJPW Super J-Cup Quarter Final (24/8/19)”
Does anyone still care about the Super J-Cup? It’s took ages for New Japan to get these up on World and then it’s taken even longer for me to get around to reviewing them. It makes it hard to imagine anyone is clamouring for my opinion (please don’t point out that no-one has ever clamoured for my opinion on anything). Oh well, I’m going to give it anyway. These shows took place in America last month, so let’s see what went down.
Continue reading “NJPW Super J-Cup First Round (22/8/19) Review”
The final night of Fantastica Mania is like the end of an all-night party. You’ve had fun, perhaps done a few things you know you’re going to be ashamed of, but now the sun is coming up, so you just want to go home, drink some water and return to reality. Does that work? I’m going to say it does.
Continue reading “NJPW Fantastica Mania (21/1/19) Review”
New Japan is in Korakuen Hall which means Fantastica Mania is about to step things up a notch. We not only have the finals of the Family Tag tournament but it’s time for our annual Cavernario match. What a treat.
Continue reading “NJPW Fantastica Mania (18/1/19) Review”
Fantastica Mania has been slowly making its way around Japan delivering its unique blend of lucha and puroresu. As usual, most people are ignoring this weirdly wonderful NJPW/CMLL tour, but not I! I’m the weirdo using my time to review it. Come with me and embrace the fun.
Continue reading “NJPW Fantastica Mania (16/1/18) Review”
Fantastica Mania is quietly one of my favourite times of the year. Post-Wrestle Kingdom the NJPW roster gets together with their CMLL pals to piss around for a tour, what’s not to love about that? There will be some build for New Beginning, but this tour will mainly be focused on wacky lucha fun. I can’t wait.
Continue reading “NJPW Fantastica Mania (11/1/19) Review”
After a decent, if unspectacular, Super Junior Tag League, New Japan rolled into their final major show of the year, Power Struggle. They’ve put together one hell of a card too, as it’s one of the strongest collections of matches you’re likely to see without the Heavyweight Title being defended. With a section of the NJPW fanbase in a bit of a grump recently, this might be what they need to turn the mood around.
One of these matches is pivotal in deciding who goes to the final of this tournament and the other means fuck all. Considering the levels of effort put into this tournament when they were still supposedly wrestling for something, I’m a bit worried about what the match for pride will look like. We must treat every New Japan day like it’s Christmas, though. They might surprise me yet.
Continue reading “NJPW Super Junior Tag League (31/10-1/11/18) Review”
I’m not going to change my tournament long policy of ignoring the undercard, but it would be remiss to not mention what happened in the final multi-man match of this show. In what has become a common theme, The Firing Squad went after Okada post-match and Tanahashi made the save. This time, rather than rejecting the Ace’s help, Okada embraced in. In fact, Okada and Tanahashi shook hands while Korakuen Hall exploded. I watched that moment spoilt, yet it still gave me goosebumps. It’s so much more than a handshake, it’s the greatest feud in pro-wrestling coming full circle. Okada and Tanahashi gave the Juniors an impossible moment to follow just by clasping hands.
Continue reading “NJPW Super Junior Tag League (27/10/18) Review”
We now live in a world where Lanny Poffo is commentating on New Japan shows. That’s a world I distrust. I’ve got nothing against Lanny Poffo, it’s just fucking weird. Anyway, we’re back in Korakuen which means we’re getting four tournament matches and hopefully a smidge more effort.
Continue reading “NJPW Super Junior Tag League (26/10/18) Review”
Ramblings About Wrestling 